Little Man
by Daria234
Summary: Crack!fic where Alec is de-aged to a 5-year-old body but is still Alec , and Original Cindy and Max have to deal with him. NEW UPDATE
1. Chapter 1

Written for comment_fic on livejournal

Prompt was OCindy watches de-aged Alec since Max refuses to be a babysitter

"No. Unh-unh. There are some things a girl just can't deal with, and this is one of them. I'll find the cure, but you can't come-"

"That's not fair, Max!" Alec pouted, his 5-year-old-looking face scrunched up in anger and disappointment.

"Tough."

"Don't worry, boo, I got your back." Original Cindy said to her, "Go find a way to fix it."

"Thanks. Behave yourself while I'm gone Alec and do what Original Cindy tells you," Max ordered as she ran out the door.

"Hey!" objected Alec, "Who says I have to do what you say just cus I'm smaller?"

"Who says it's because you're smaller? Seriously, when is it ever a good idea to go up against Original Cindy?"

Alec thought better than to argue, so he just let slip the first thought in his brain, "Max is a big meanie!"

"What now?"

"Max is mean! She hates me!" Alec's lower lip trembled against his will. What the hell is happening to me, Alec thought to himself, soon I'll be more emotional than Logan.

But Original Cindy just gave Alec a hug and said, "Max is finding a way to help you. She's gooing to save your sorry ass like she always does, so don't worry about it, okay boo?"

"Okay," Alec answered, head still buried in her shoulder.

"All right, good. Now let's go to the bar and see if that cute little face of yours helps me pick up any fine-looking honeys."

"Okay," Alec said, wiping away a little sniffle, "But fair warning. I'm going to act really adorable so they all let me sit in their lap."

"Shut up and get moving, little man. And be grateful I don't believe in child abuse."


	2. Chapter 2

"Alec! I'm riding all over town to find out how to help you and you're at the bar smacking girls' asses!" Max yelled.

"They said it was cute!" Alec said, stomping his 5-year-old foot.

"It's not cute! You're not actually five! Which mean that you're just a perv!"

"Am not!"

"Are too! And kind of a dick!"

Alec was speechless for a long time as he willed himself not to cry. _What the hell is happening to me?_ he thought. But the only thing he could think to do was yell, "You're mean!," kick Max in the shins, and run to the other room before she could see the tears starting.

"Oww!!" yelled Max. "That little brat! I am so going to kick his sorry ass."

"Boo, I like jokes about beating children as much as the next girl, but maybe you want to lay off for now," Original Cindy said to her.

"Easy for you to say, you weren't nailed in the shin by a transgenically enhanced 5-year-old."

"Of course I wasn't. I'm a delightful person."

"Funny, Original Cindy."

"Look, he may have Alec's memories, but that's a kid," Cindy continued, " I spent half the night convincing him not to pout because he was worried that you didn't like him."

"Now, that is just pathetic."

Cindy rolled her eyes. "Yes, the male ego at any age is quite pathetic. I would think you would know that, being a 'ro and all. Speaking of, could Logan find anything on what they did to Alec to make him all toy-sized?"

"Not yet, but he has some leads. He might have something soon, though."

"Well, that's good news. And I can think of a smartass little kid who could use some of that."

Max sighed. "Fine. I'll talk to him."

"Good," Cindy said, "Because I am a damn sexy badass, and it doesn't fit right to play the nice lady who's a good role model. Which means you're up, boo."

Max walked into the bedroom and quickly located the source of the sniffling hidden under the bed.

"Alec?" she said as she peered underneath.

"Go 'way!!"

"Alec? I'm sorry I yelled."

"I don't like you!"

"I know. You didn't always like me when you were big, either."

"Yes, I did,"

Max paused. Then, "You did?"

Alec hesitated, then said, "No. You're gross. And mean."

"Well, you can be mean too sometimes. Like now. It really hurts my feelings that you won't come out from under the bed."

"Good!"

"You know I could drag you out of there, right?" she snapped,

Alec looked at her, and though it was dark under the bed, Max could clearly see his hurt, moist eyes widen in surprise and fear.

_Shit,_ Max thought. _That's exactly how Ben looked when we were that age._

"I'm kidding," Max said. "You guys all know not to take it too personally when I start to lose my temper."

Alec answered, "More like, we all know to seek refuge in a nuclear shelter."

Max smiled. "Now that's the smartass I came in here to talk to."

Alec sniffled. "I remember who I am, Max. I'm not a child. I just..."

"You just react like one."

"Bite me, bitch."

"You know I'm not above slapping a kid, right?"

Alec looked frightened again, just for a second and then smiled. "Now who's the smartass?"

Max smiled back and offered her hand out to Alec as he crawled out from under the bed.

"We're going to get you fixed, Alec. Logan's working on it. And I'm working on it. We'll bust a few heads and we'll get you back to your insufferable self."

Alec's small hands clumsily wiped away the moisture on his cheeks and the snot under his nose. "What if you can't?" he asked.

"We will. Promise."

He gave her a big smile, as if that were enough for him. "Okay."

Max felt the sudden urge to pick him up and carry him to the other room, but she wasn't sure that Alec's dignity could take that kind of blow. So she gestured toward the kitchen with a nod and a mention of cookies and watched him excitedly skip alongside her.

_Damn, is Alec cute like this_, Max said to herself, and then, realizing her own train of thought, _Don't ever think that again Max. Seriously, just stick something sharp in your eye instead._ But then she saw Original Cindy give him a little kiss on the forehead as she wiped his mouth with a napkin, and decided that maybe it was nothing to be ashamed of. _And besides, at least when he's small, I always have the option of locking him in the pantry when he talks too much._

_To be continued?_


	3. Chapter 3

A few days later, they only had a few leads. But there was a big problem.

Max was starting to feel sorry for little Alec.

She had no reason to. Just because he was in a different body didn't mean he wasn't still Alec. So if he had a little voice and a little body and followed her around everywhere? Not her problem.

But now he was sick. Fever, chills, sneezing, more mucus than anyone should have to deal with ever. Plus lots and lots of whining.

Which ... is not what's supposed to happen to supersoldiers. Even the tiny ones.

There's no reason his puffy red nose and ample snot dripping down his face should make Max feel sorry for him. Not to mention his needy little voice saying he didn't feel good enough to eat soup.

"Suck it up, soldier!" she finally yelled at him.

She wasn't expecting his face to scrunch up like that. She couldn't help but feel like a shitty person.

And then she was angry again. For making her feel bad when she had no right to.

But Original Cindy gave her a look, and hugged Alec then, rubbing his back softly as he buried his head in her neck. Max watched OC do this with ease, and she would have cracked a joke about being a closet-maternal-type, but she just didn't find it that funny. Mostly she was confused. Puzzled by something.

"It's okay, Alec," Cindy said.

"You don't have to treat me like a baby," Alec said, wavering voice and sniffles belying his claims, "I'm still a grown man inside, you know. A really badass one, as a matter of fact."

"I know," Cindy said, "But can you be a badass for me right now and try to eat your soup?"

He parted from the hug and nodded, opening his mouth for Cindy to feed him a few spoonfuls. Eventually, after some coughing fits, some pats on the back, some cartoons, and some promises of ice cream when he feels better, Alec fell asleep.

In the next room, Cindy and Max talked softly so as not to wake him.

"Don't feel bad, boo. This is a hard adjustment for us all."

"Not you" Max said.

"Not everyone can be as awesome as me."

"Yeah, sure. How do you know he's not faking it?"

"Boo. You can't be serious. We both know it is _killing_ him to need us for anything. He looks downright humiliated every time he accidentally acts like a kid."

"But ... he keeps acting like he wants to cry when I'm mean to him. Or not even mean, just honest. Or not even honest, just -"

"Bitchy?" OC said, "I'm not judging, I'm just observing. Besides, it's not like Alec doesn't deserve bitchy sometimes. Little Alec's just as bratty as big Alec."

"Yeah, but why does he get so upset? When he was actually this age for real? It was all training and loneliness and people treating you like you were soldiers and nothing else. Someone saying mean things to you was the least bad thing that would happen any given day."

Cindy gave a look of compassion as Max recalled her days at Manticore, something she rarely did aloud. But her compassion was kindness and attentiveness and bore no trace of pity, and Max was once again glad to have a friend like her. Max continued, "My point is this. He wouldn't have acted like a child even when he was a child. He wouldn't have been so... sensitive. So why is he that way now? It doesn't make sense."

"He didn't know you when he was a child."

"He knew _a_ me."

"Don't even act like a clone of you is you, Max. You know what I mean. He's sensitive because he cares now what _you_ think of him. And now that he's a kid, he's not as good at hiding it."

"No way, Original Cindy."

"Yesterday, when I was giving him his juice, he said that he thinks you wish he were Ben."

Max paused. "Shit," she concluded, "I mean yeah, I wish Ben were still ... here... but that doesn't mean-"

"I'm not the one who needs to hear it, boo."

"Yeah, I'm not telling Alec anything he can use against me once he's himself again."

OC shrugged. "Suit yourself. But you better to find something to talk about that doesn't make him cry. Because if he's not better in the morning, you need to take him to a doctor."

"Can you do it? Drinks are on me for month if you do."

"First of all, with all this trouble, I'd say drinks are on Alec. Second, no I'm not taking him. I'm already your conflict resolution advisor, your therapist, and the coolest person you know. You think it's my job to be Mary fucking Poppins too???"

Max smiled. "I guess not."

"Tomorrow morning, boo. Take him to that doctor who knows about you."

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Author's Note: This was originally written for comment_fic (Bite Sized bits of fic), which is a multi-fandom prompting community over at livejournal


	4. Chapter 4

They had almost starting getting used to it. Little Alec staying with them, bothering them, complaining to them, occasionally throwing tantrums at them. Cuddling up to Max or Original Cindy or both after a nightmare - of which there were a lot. Smiling big and messy and crumb-faced after eating cookies.

The doctor couldn't find anything at all to suggest that little Alec was anything other than an exceptionally precocious young boy. He said the cold would go away soon, and it did, but they still didn't have answers.

And now it had been a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks of letting Alec tag along when Max went shopping, after he promised he would never again tell the cashier "My mommy beats me!" just to see if he could get free candy.

A couple of weeks of trying not to say "Awww..." when Joshua would make Alec fly around like an airplane, and trying not to giggle when Joshua would whisper, "I think I like him better this way."

A couple of weeks of acting clueless when Normal demanded to know who had left rotten eggs in his shoes or had put fake vomit in his lunchbag.

It had been a couple of weeks of hugging Alec whenever he would get scared and ask if he would ever be big again. Or if she thought clones had souls. Or if she thought he was going to turn out just like Ben. Or if Manticore would catch them and make them kill and lie again. Or if he was a bad person. She would hold him and rub his little back and tell him that they were looking for leads or that she would never let Manticore hurt him or that he was a good boy. After, he would snort and say, "I can't believe you fell for that. You're a dummy." Max wouldn't buy it. At some level, she had always known how heavily Alec's past weighed on him; but it was different, seeing all that pain spilling out of a child's body. It made the bile rise in her throat in a way she thought she had put in the past.

Of course Alec had also picked up the habit of following Max around, imitating her, trying to be like her and walk like her and talk like her. At first, they assumed he was mocking her, but it became clear enough that Alec wasn't even conscious he was doing it.

"Good thing you're so butch," Original Cindy told Max, "Otherwise, little Alec might be the girliest kid on the block."

Max rolled her eyes. But she was starting to wonder about the long term effects of leaving Alec this way.

So when Logan called with a lead about Alec's 'situation,' she geared up immediately.

Alec walked in on her as she was sliding her set of picks into a band on her 'thief' outfit, the tight black one.

"You look really pretty," Alec said, looking confused as a couple of action figures they bought for him dangled from his hand, "But you said you would stay home with me and play dinosaur versus Frankenstein."

She smiled at him. "Thanks. But I have to go to work."

"But you promised."

"Sorry, kiddo."

"I'm not a kiddo! And if you're stealing something, you should bring back up."

"I work alone."

He stamped his feet. "I would be good backup, Max! Fucking hell, stop being so stubborn!"

"I have had it with your tantrums!" she snapped back.

"This isn't a tantrum, this is totally valid point about the superiority of team-based tactics, and besides YOU'RE MEAN!!!"

"Alec! This is not up for debate!"

He pouted and for a moment she thought he might cry. She readied herself to ignore it and tell him that tears wouldn't work.

But he didn't cry. He leaped toward her with ridiculous speed and out of fear of hurting him, she didn't evade. He grabbed her leg tightly - really tightly- and said, "I'm going!!"

She sighed as she tried to pry his strong arms off her leg. "Alec! You let go of me right now!! I'm warning you..."

At long last she managed to get him apart from her leg, and she held his arms at his sides. "Look! Do you want to get big again or not! Because I'm goig to get some files that may tell us what happened to you. "

He calmed down and looked astounded. "You should have told me, Maxie."

"It's not a sure thing. I didn't want to get your hopes up if it doesn't...you know."

Alec nodded. "But you should let me help. I have all the skills I always did, and my size is a huge advantage for hard-to-fit spaces. Besides, if everything goes to hell, you can pretend to be a hysterical mother looking for her wandering child. Come on, Max, trust me enough to do this. Unless...it's not because I'm small. I mean if it's just that you don't trust me on a mission, then you know, that's your call.... But I can help you, I promise."

Max looked at him, staring up at her, looking so determined yet so in need of her approval. _This is not good,_ Max thought to herself,_ If Alec is this good at playing me when he's big again, I am so totally screwed._ But she nodded finally and said, "Okay, big man. Gear up."

The look on his face was priceless. And a minute later, a child dressed in black clothes and a ski mask, with a waist pack full of picks and knives, was standing before her, ready to go. She smiled, picked him up in her arms, and jumped out the window to a nearby roof. Right before they landed, she could have sworn she heard him say, "Wheeeee."


	5. Chapter 5

It was so soft she almost didn't hear it.

"Max?"

She heard little Alec's voice in the coms, trembling and confused and frightened. It tightened something in her chest that she didn't think was there?

"Are you okay? Alec? Are you-"

"Please come, Max," he said, sounding as if he might burst into tears.

"I'll be right there. I got you, Alec, I'll be right there," she said as she ran toward the east wing. Whatever it was that Alec found, she didn't want him facing it alone.

* * *

The theft had gone off without a hitch. Alec grabbed them and tore up the office to make it look like a standard robbery, while she took care of the guards before they even saw Alec run by.

The files they stole were as good as Logan promised. It included the blueprints and the location of a new Manticore facility only a few miles outside the limits of Seattle. It was a good bet.

They did it high-tech, since it had to be done right. Coms and everything. And since Alec had proven to be so cool under pressure the last mission, Max tried her best not to worry about him.

But like any Manticore facility, this one had plenty of security measures. The plan was for her to grab some scientists and ask them some questions about Alec, preferably not asking nicely. Alec, meanwhile, would sneak into the east wing, which was supposed to be empty storage, and report back if there were anything relevant there. Alec had objected to such a 'little kid' task, but Logan had pointed out that the east wing might have nothing or it might have the most ultra secret stuff. Alec had replied, "Don't condescend to me, dickhead," but he seemed to accept the logic of the argument.

Truthfully, Max had been hoping Alec would see nothing more adventurous than boxes in storage and maybe a couple of guards to tie up.

But when she heard his voice over the coms, she knew it was much more than that.

* * *

When she got to little Alec, she could see his faced pressed against a large glass tube, glowing blue. There was a man inside, probably alive. She immediately regretted letting him come, now that he was Manticore-traumatized.

But before she could reach over to run her hand through his hair to comfort him, she saw why little Alec was so confused sounding.

The man in the glass tube was Alec.

The adult.

Or a clone.

But... the letters on the tube said X5-494.

Little Alec looked up at Max and said. "That's me. Big me. But... if he's... who am I?"

"We'll figure it out Alec," she promised, desperately hoping to herself that she would be able to keep that promise.

They heard footsteps then, coming fast. Security, they both knew.

Little Alec looked at Max who nodded her permission. Little Alec scrunched up his face in determination then, and punched the glass tube hard. Pieces of glass fell to the floor along with an alarming amount of blue liquid. They both almost jumped when the man - when Alec - sat up suddenly and gasped in a painful breath of air.

"Are you -" Max asked him, trailing off before finishing the question.

"Maxie! Wow, you must have really missed me to go to all this trouble," he said, barely getting the words out as he panted air in still. _Definitely Alec,_ she thought.

"We have to go!!!" little Alec whined.

Adult Alec looked down on him, face full of compassion and regret. "I am so sorry they did that to you," he said.

"Questions later, escaping now," Max interrupted seeing the confused look on little Alec's face. And the three of them ran as fast as they could.

* * *

They eventually managed to find some air ducts large enough to crawl through, with a little direction over the coms from Logan and his blueprints, and they did their best to stay quiet as the guards ran wild below them. When they were finally out of hearing range, they talked.

Alec had been there the whole time, submersed in that device. They kept him in an altered state and he wasn't able to move or speak or do anything, but he was conscious enough to hear their conversations.

He knew Manticore's plans. And they weren't good. Even by Manticore standards.

They wanted more soldiers. And they didn't want to wait 20 years to get them. And so...

X5-496. They were determined to make a good soldier out of him yet. They picked him first because his boxing career made him visible - as in, easy to catch - and because the two versions, Ben and Alec, had turned out so differently. Made for a nice experiment.

Once they picked Alec, they rapid-grew another clone. Little Alec.

Who wasn't Alec at all.

Because as soon as the boy was cognitively developed enough to handle it, Manticore took the adult Alec, and proceeded to copy his memories into the boy. Muscle memory, tactical training, every experience that Alec remembered: they all went into the little boy's brain. It wasn't necessary to spend years training the boy; just download the adult's memories, and Manticore gets the perfect assassin, with the bonus of being in a body that no one would suspect. Too bad for them that the boy went into a frenzy as soon as they copied the memories into him, injuring several guards and running out, causing much destruction as he went.

Hearing this, Max felt a swirl of things, most of them sickening - guilt that she had taken so long to find Alec and that he had been trapped in that tube all this time; horror that a little boy would have to live with the guilt and bitterness that a highly trained adult could barely cope with; and something else, something unexpected, some feeling of being cheated, since all the times she had finally learned to make little Alec feel safe and warm weren't really with Alec at all.

But she pushed these thoughts down, since it mattered much more what little Alec - what the little boy - felt.

He seemed amazed. "So... I'm not me?" he asked adult Alec.

Alec looked at the boy with regret, saying, "I am so sorry you had to have all those things in your head."

"But then... who am I?"

Alec looked pained. "You're a five year old boy. And you're an escaped clone, like me and Max, which means we're all basically related. Not to mention that you're the guy who just saved me from a chemically-induced forced paralysis."

Little Alec pouted and put on his sarcastic face. "In other words, you have no fucking clue who I am."

Adult Alec sighed. "Listen, I think I can reverse the process, put you back to-"

"No! I'm Alec!" the boy said, and Max covered his mouth so the guards wouldn't hear.

Adult Alec held the boy by his shoulders and said, very carefully avoiding Max's gaze, "Look, we both know it's no picnic in my head. And if they were really your memories, I'd say keep 'em, you deserve to have to live with them. But they're not yours. The things I've done... they are not yours. I know it feels real, but these memories are a lie. And I will NOT live with the knowledge that you are bearing all that bullshit when you have never done anything bad to anyone."

A tear ran down little Alec's face. "But... if you take away being Alec, I won't be anyone."

"Yes you will," said Max, "You'll be my friend. And Alec's too. And you'll get to grow up and become whoever you want."

Little Alec looked up at her and said softly,"You'll still like me even if I'm not Alec?"

Adult Alec snorted. "Believe me, kid, she'll like you way better when you're not me."

Little Alec pouted and said, "Stop making fun of me. Us. You know what I mean."

"You really think you can reverse it?" Max asked adult Alec.

"If we can get to the south wing lab, I can put him right."

"But you won't leave me here, right?" little Alec asked.

"Of course not," they answered at the same time.

"We help little Alec," she contined, "And then we make sure the research ends."

"We'll burn the whole thing down," little Alec said solemnly with a nod.

They all nodded assent and then started to crawl toward the south wing.

"By the way that wasn't true. What you said," mumbled the boy as they crawled along.

"What isn't?" adult Alec asked.

The child answered, matter-of-factly,"That I've never done anything bad to anyone. I kicked Max in the shins."

"Don't remind me," grouched Max.

"Seriously? You did that?" Alec said with a chuckle, "Wow, little me is awesome! ... OWW, geez, Max, I was just kidding."

* * *

The reversal process was fairly straightforward once they subdued all the personnel. As the boy sat for the device, Max and Alec talked.

"How did you find the kid?" Alec whispered.

"He just showed up, saying that he was Alec and he didn't know how he got trapped in a kid's body."

"So he instinctively went to you? I never knew I had such poor survival instincts, "Alec joked, "...Wait... does that mean you've been taking caring of him this whole time?"

"No," she said quickly.

"Awww... that's adorable, Maxie, you were trying to take good care of me," he needled.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Original Cindy did most of the work."

Alec grinned. "Sure."

"She did! I wouldn't touch your snotty-nose child self with a ten foot pole."

"Yeah, that's why you were practically offering the kid cookies and cocoa back there, when he was all scared."

"Technically, since he has your memories, that was you who was all scared," she pointed out.

"No way. Doesn't count." Alec grinned smugly and for a second Max wondered how she could have been stupid enough to think that adorable little boy was actually this jackass in front of her.

But then Alec's face turned serious and he asked, hesitating, "So, um, I've known about the kid for a couple of weeks but there was nothing I could do for him."

"He knows that, Alec. We took good care of him, don't worry."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, thanks, but... trapped in that tube, I was thinking that if I ever got out, I'd make sure the kid got a real childhood. Not like ours, you know."

Max nodded. "Definitely. Logan can find parents who-"

"There's no one who understands what it means to grow up transgenic. And who can deal with the threat that Manticore will always pose to him," Alec said, frustrated, seeming almost nervous for some reason.

But the conversation was interrupted by an unexpectedly happy and sweet-looking little boy jumping out of the device. "All done!" he announced, as if he were proudly saying he had just finished brushing his teeth or drawing a picture, "And I picked out my name!"

"What is it, little man?" Alec asked.

"Mac. It's a combination of Max and Alec."

Alec looked at Max, amused and with a raised eyebrow. Max ignored him and said to the little boy, "We're both very honored. So I take it you remember the last couple of weeks still."

The boy thought and said, "Yeah, mostly. Some parts are blurry. But I don't remember much before that. But I know I like you two!" He smiled a more innocent smile than Max was used to seeing on him.

"We like you too," Alec grinned, "Now do you want to help me light this place up like a can of oil??"

Little Mac's eyes widened. "How do we do that?"

Max smiled. "Don't worry, we got this one."

And after they evacuated the tied-up Manticore employees and gave the rest a fire alarm and time to get out, they did exactly that. Alec carried the kid since he no longer had Alec's skills, and they all ran toward home as the exploding lab lit the sky behind them.

When they arrived, Mac was sleeping on Alec's shoulder, and Max took him from his arms and carried the child to his bed to tuck him in.

"Wow, did you and me get cozy while I was gone?" Alec smirked.

"I must have sensed that he wasn't really you and decided he was worth being nice to," she shot back.

He nodded, letting the comment roll off him.

"Logan's trying to find some people he can stay with," Max said.

"Yeah, that's the thing. He's my clone. And I know that genes don't make us who we are - I mean we of all people know that. But he's made from my genes, he had to suffer my memories. And hell, he's even named half after me. I don't want to just ditch him."

Max looked at him strangely, not sure if she was really hearing what she was hearing. Alec, the guy who thinks it's better to not get involved, Alec, the guy who thinks a houseplant is too much commitment. Alec, the guy who thinks a smartass comment is the response to everything, who feels a responsibility to no one and nothing.

Alec couldn't possibly be suggesting...

But apparently Alec saw the skepticism on her face. And her face froze, even as she became more and more surprised by what she was hearing.

"Look, Max, I know that I'm the last person in the world who should... I mean... obviously you think I couldn't possibly do a good job raising a kid. But he's either my twin or my son, depending on how you look at it... And I... Fine, you know what? I don't care what you say. He's staying with me, and he's going to have a real childhood, and he'll never feel ashamed to have transgenic powers, and he'll never be asked to use those powers to hurt anyone, and maybe none of that makes me father material, but it's a hell of a lot better than you and I EVER had, and I'm keeping him with me. I don't care what you think," he muttered.

And Max was stunned by Alec then. And she studied his face and recognized just the tiniest hint of those weeks she spent with 'little Alec.' All those times that kid had looked up at her, needing her so badly but not wanting to say it, hiding that need with anger and walls. Alec still did that.

Hell, Max herself probably did that sometimes, if she were really honest with herself.

But with the adult Alec, she could see his facial muscles carefully preventing him from making a face like he wanted to cry or scream. But the pull of those expressions was still there, hidden, and now Max knew it. And she knew that he damn well did care what she thought.

And she wasn't about to abuse that trust, any more than she would for Alec at any age.

"I wasn't going to say that you'd be a bad father," she quietly.

He turned, tried to hide the surprise and relief. "Really?"

"Really. I think you're good at most things you try hard at."

He grinned lecherously. "Does that include-"

"Don't ruin the moment," she snapped.

"Right," he answered, before pausing, "... So you don't have a problem with me raising Mac?"

She looked at him, at his big hopeful eyes, his not-quite hidden fear that she doesn't believe in him, his need for her to say something honest _and_ kind, even though in the world according to her those are usually opposites.

So she smiled. And she said, "No problem at all. But if he starts acting like you, I'm charging you double to baby-sit."


End file.
